Method of applying identifying-strips to bales.



` No. 893,748; PATENTED JULY 21, 1908 W; L. MOCARTY.

* METHOD 0F APPLYING IDENTIPYING STRIPS T0 BALBS. v APPLIGATION Hmm0011.1. 1901.

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atkoznup No. 893,748. PATENTBD JULY 21, 1908.

W. L. MUGARTY. y

METHOD OF APPLYING IDENTIFYING STRIPS T0 BALES.

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.17,1907.

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No. 893,748. PATBNTBD JULY 2 1, 1908.

l W. L. MOGARTY.

METHODI 0F APPLYINGIDENTIPYING :STRIPSV To BALBS.

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WREFORD L. MCCARTY, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

METHOD OF APPLYING IDENTIFYINGSTRIPS TO BALES.

Application filed October 17, 1907.

T o all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, Wnnronn L. MCCARTY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee,have invented a new and useful Method of Applying IdentifyingStrips toBales, of which the following is a specificaion.

.In handling bales of cotton considerable .diiiiculty is eicperienced inproperly identifying the bales belonging to different owners, or balesof certain quality or weights, owing to the loss of identifying marks,tags, and the like, which become mutilated or defaced when the bales arepacked or shipped.

The'principal object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmethod of attaching identifying strips to bales or other articles ofcotton or other material.

A further object of the invention is to proyide an improved method offeeding the identifying strip or like article into position alongsidethe bale or other article to which it .is to be attached, and forholding said strip during the attaching operation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved methodof feeding a portion of the length of a strip into parallel relationwith the surface to which it is to be attached and to subsequently severthe projected or fed portion of the strip after the attaching operation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel method hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings z-Figure 1 is an elevation of a stripfeeding and printing mechanism which may be employed to carry the methodinto effect. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the gripper and strip-cuttingdevice showing the gripper-carriage guides in section. Fig. 3 is asectional plan view through the gripper-carriage. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the bale showing the strip arranged in position forattachment thereto. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing thebale-bands fastened and the strip-cutting mechanism about to operate.-

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the bale with the strip applied. Fig. 7is a detail view of a portion of the identifying strip.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The press shown in the accompanying Specification of- Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Serial No. 397,926.

drawing is of a well known type and operates in the usual manner, thebales of cotton be ing placed between the platens A and B forrepressing.

Arranged at one end of the press is a horizontally disposed guide wayformed of a pair of parallel rails 10. Between these rails are mounted apair of grooved rollers or wheels 11 that support a carriage 12. Thecarriage is provided with a projecting pin 13 that enters a slot formedin one arm of a bell crank lever 14, said lever being pivoted to a fixedportion of the frame of the press, and its opposite arm being connectedby a link 15 to the vertically movable piston rod 16 or other member ofthe press. During the compressing operation, the rod 16 will move upwardin order to raise the lower platen B and during this movement thecarriage 12 will be traveled from one side of the machine to the other.This carriage supports the strip gripe ping device which automaticallyengages with and carries the strip across the press in the mannerhereinafter described.

At one side of the machine is arranged a casing 2O having a lid or cover21, and said casing is provided at one end with a slot 22 for theentrance of the blank strip, and at the opposite end with a slot 23 forthe passage of the printed strip on its way to the press.

Within thecasing 2O is arranged a mechanism of any suitable constructionwhich operates to print the identifying marks upon the strip :c as itpasses from the entrance slot 22 to exit slot 23, and several of theshafts of this printing mechanism are indicated by the referencecharacters 34, 35 and 36. As the construction of this mechanism forms nopart of the present invention, it has not been illustrated or describedin detail.

Extending from the discharge end of the casing 20 is a strip turningplate 60, one end of the plate being at a right angle to the oppositeend, and the plate being gradually curved between the two ends for thepurpose of turning the strip edgewise from a horizontal to a verticalposition. The discharge end of the plate is provided with a cross bar 61that is slightly spaced from the strip proper in order to moreeffectively guide the strip.

Secured to the carriage 12 is a depending guard arm 62 to which ispivoted a gripping jaw 63, the latter being held in gripping position bymeans of a spring 64. The upper which, also, acts to engage the cam 65of the movable gripping jaw.

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, the end of the stripis clamped between the gripping jaws and will be held durl ing themovement of the carriage 12 to the left, so that the strip will becarried across parallel withthe side of the bale and will be held in aposition slightly spaced from the side ofthe bale, so that it may bebound in` by the bale ties. During the preliminary portion of themovement of the carriage, the cam 65 will engage the spring mounted pin66 and the spring of the latter will be depressed allowing the cam andgripper to pass to the left without moving the gripper or releasing theidentifying strip. At the completion of the compression movement, thegripper will have passed beyond the second pin 68 and will then hold thestrip taut in readiness to be bound in. The strip is held until thecompression movement of the press is complete, after which the balebands are united in the usual manner, the bands passing over the stripand binding the same in.

With the bale.

In order to sever that portion of the strip which is to be attached tothe bale, a pair of pivotally mounted severing blades 70 are carried bya bracket 71 projecting from the frame. The lower arms 72 of theseblades are curved outward and are arranged to be engaged by a pair ofpivotally mountedy spring actuated lugs 73 that are carried by the lowerplaten B of the press. During the upward movement of the platen, theselugs will yield as they pass above the arms to the position shown inFig. 2 without disturbing the cutting blades. On the downward movement,however, after the baling operation is complete, the lugs cannot swingon their pivots, and the blades will be forced toward each other for thepurpose of severing the projected portion of the identifying strip.

When the piston rod 16 starts to descend after the com letion of thebaling operation, the cam 65 of the movable gripping jaw will engage thepin 68 as the carriage 12 starts on its movement to the right, and thiswill result in opening the gripping jaws, so that the end of the stripwill be released. After passing beyond the pin, the aws will snap shutand will continue in the closed position until the outer face of the cam65 engages the pin 66 whereupon the movable j aw will be again moved toopen position and will be held in the open position until the jaws havepassed to opposite sides of that portion of the end of the i entifyingstrip which projects from the guide 61. When this point is. reached, the

cam will have traveled over the pin 66, so that the jaws can snap shutin readiness for another operation.

It will be noted that the strip is fed in a direction parallel with thesurface to which it is to be attached and is held comparatively taut atthe ends, so that there will be no difliculty in placing the bale bandsaround it during the bale tying operation, and in this mannerpractically the entire length of the. strip is conned in place by theband. rlhe strip in practice is printed with identifying marks repeatedat frequent intervals, the marks designating generally the point oforigin, the name of the shipper, the mark of the cotton and thedestination. As the strip extends the full length of the bale, and isgenerally about sixty inches in length, the identifying marks may beprinted thereon some thirty or more times, but inasmuch as the strip isbound in by every one of the ties it is practically impossible to defaceor mutilate all of the marks through any accident of handling, storageor transportation.

I claim 1. The herein described method of attaching a strip, said methodconsisting in feeding the strip into a position parallel with thesurface to which it is to be attached and holding the end portions ofsuch strip while the intermediate portions thereof are secured in`place.

2. The herein described method of attaching strips, such methodconsisting in feeding a strip lengthwise in a direction parallel withthe surface to which it is to be attached, and holding the striprelatively taut while the intermediate portions thereof are boundagainst the surface of the article.

3. The herein described method of attaching strips, said methodconsisting in feeding a strip into approximately parallel relation withthe surface to which it is to be attached and holding those portions ofthe strip adj acent the ends of the article during the attaching of theintermediate portion of the strip to said article.

4. The herein described method of attacl ing strips, said methodconsisting in feeding the end portion of the strip into a positionparallel with but slightly spaced from the surface of the article towhich it is to be attached and holding said strip adjacent the ends ofthe article, while the intermediate portion of such strip is bound tosaid article.

5. The herein described method of attaching strips, said methodconsisting in feeding a portion of the length of a continuous strip intoparallel relation with the article to which it is to be attached,binding the strip in place and subsequently severing the bound portionof the strip.

6. The herein described method of attaching strips, said methodconsisting in feeding the end portion of a continuous strip intoapproximately parallel relation with the surface to which it is to beattached, holding the strip at the ends of the article while theintermediate portions thereof are bound to such article, and finallysevering the fed portion of the strip.

7. The herein described method of attaching strips, said methodconsisting in catching and drawing the end of an identifying mark stripinto approximately arallel relation with the surface to which it 1s tobe attached, and holding the strip while the intermediate portionsthereof are bound to the article.

8. The herein described method of attaching a strip to an article,said'method consisting in supporting the strip in a positionapproximately parallel with the surface of the article and attaching thestrip to the article at intervals.

9. The herein described method of attaching an identifying strip to anarticle, said method consisting in supporting the strip adjacent thesurface of the article, and then attaching said strip to the article atspaced intervals.

10. The herein described method of attaching an identifying stripbearing numerous identifying marks to an article, said method consistingin supporting the strip adjacent the article and then attaching thestrip to the article at a number of points, the identifying marks beingof approximately equal number between each two attaching points.

1 1. The herein described method of attaching an identifying stripbearing numerous identifying marks, to a bale, said method consisting insu porting the strip adjacent to the surface o the bale, and thenbinding the strip in with the bale at spaced intervals to expose theidentifylng mark between all of the binding points.

12. The herein described method of attaching an identifying stripbearing numerous identifying marks to a bale, said method consisting insupporting the strip adjacent the surface of the bale rior to the baletying operation, and then inding the strip in with the bale by the baleties, thereby exposing the identifying marks between each two bindingpoints.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WREFORD L. MCCARTY.

Witnesses:

J. Ross CoLHoUN, JAS. M. WALKER.

